#because all three of the cards in that post will appear in the second set

[thatonebjp]

Just spent like 30 minutes organizing my custom card posts into "custom cards 1" for the set I did and "custom cards misc" for the other ones, so I can seperate them from my next set by tagging that "custom cards 2"

[ventiskies]

Ace of hearts | Lyney

genre : growing up together, hurt no comfort, angst.

synopsis: sometimes the lines of being a performer and your friend blurred; it was dangerous to get caught up in an act. as he has said, anything could happen in a single minute.

You knew Lyney like no other. 

If there was one person in Fontaine you could call your best friends, it had to be the magic twins Lyney and Lynette. Ever since you were young and heard a group of magicians of similar age as you were performing in the streets, you had never once missed a performance.

Your parents were merchants and you lived in the safe confines of the Court of Fontaine, so they had no trouble leaving you most of the time alone at home when you were a little older. That was when you started to spend more time befriending the mysterious magician duos that would perform almost every week.

The first time you attempted to befriend the two, you could see they were wary from the way Lyney would tell you they had to leave and go home early (and then finding him in a different spot of the Court, still performing), or the way Lynette completely ends a conversation with you before you even started by saying her “talking mode" is off.

Though all that never hindered you from wanting to be their friends. You had no others in Fontaine, and when your parents were out you were alone. You’d join and watch the trials, but you never understood whatever the Chief Judge was saying. Or how it worked. Your young mind found nothing intriguing except the twins and their performances - you couldn’t give up!

They begin to notice how you frequent their magic shows, how you took a genuine interest in them. It took a lot of time and appearances at their street shows (shows that you had to find yourself, since they never seem to post a notice of their performing) - but after a few months, the oldest twin, Lyney, began to warm up to you.

He called you to stay once after a performance, it was late at night, and they must have appreciated your dedication because right he they had asked if you were interested in joining them for a dinner at Hotel Debord (one that they had mentioned their father would pay for - how could you reject a free meal?) so without hesitation, you agreed.

And that's how you and Lyney became friends. 

It took you a while to warm up to Lynette, but she seemed to be nicer to you after Lyney decided to befriend you. When you were reminiscing of your younger days in the future, Lynette tells you that she had started to trust and befriend you the day her brother called you to stay. Because anyone Lyney trusts, Lynette trusts.

When they were not performing, the three of you would be hanging around the Court of Fontaine, enjoying strolls or desserts or playing together like the kids you were. You lacked a childhood of playing due to the lack of children your age, and you could tell they did too from the way they had to ask you how to play certain games that even you - with no experience - knew how to play. As though they had to mature faster than other kids.

Years went by faster than you had realized and you had gotten closer and grew up together alongside the twins, your friendship never once fading. You had shared dreams, fears and traded secrets. Though despite everything, you had never learned their origins or how their tricks worked.

Whenever they had a bigger performance at the streets with a larger audience, you would be dubbed Lyney’s second assistant, but beyond helping with his props and help misleading the audience you never really knew how their magic was performed. It was the one thing Lyney and Lyentte never told you, though they weren’t against you finding out. 

“Is this your card?” Lyney asks with a sly smile one day when the two of you were on the sandy beach by the Court, looking beyond the ocean at the setting sun. You don't remember how you ended up there, all you remember was curiously chasing after a seelie when it left the Court, and Lynette taking a rain check from joining to eat some dessert. Leaving the two of you to chase after it alone only to lose track of it once you were out.

Now you sit on the sand, looking up at sixteen year old Lyney who shows you a six of hearts with the confidence of someone who has never been wrong. You shake your head and snicker.

“Nope,” 

Lyney’s shoulders sagged, “No way, you’re lying!” he takes off his hat and places his hand on his head, pouting, “I've got no cards left, this has to be it,” he mutters, shaking his hat to show it was empty.

“Or maybe…” he places a hand on his chin and looks at you, placing his hat on your head. You laugh as it falls over your face, “you stole it!”

“How does that even work?” you rolled your eyes, lifting his hat so it doesn’t cover your eyes. Only, when you did, a card slips out and falls onto your lap. The queen of spades. Your card.

“That's how it works,” Lyney answers your question with a snap of his fingers and a smirk, as if he solved a mystery and caught you lying, “you thief, trying to ruin my magic,”

“Drop the act already,” you laugh. He definitely got you good, “okay, that was impressive. You have to tell me how that worked, I don't think I can figure that one out even if I watch it over and over again!”

Lyney places a hand over his heart, “Drop the act? What act?” he gasps, mock offended. You shake your head and sigh, causing Lyney to laugh.

“You are a good thief, you’ve stolen more than my cards,” he says, his tone sounding softer. From the years you’ve been friends, there were moments when Lyney showed he was more than just what he showed. Lyney acted like he had a brave face but sometimes, in the night when you were alone, he would show you a softer, more gentle side of him.

But this time it was different. He sounded as if he was showing you something. He was trying to tell you something, without actually telling you anything.

This was the first time you’ve properly looked at Lyney. He takes a seat beside you on the sandy ground, giving you a gentle smile and you feel your cheeks heat up. You see the way his pale hair falls over his eyes, the way his hands skillfully played with the queen of spades, the gleam in his magenta eyes. Was this feeling...?

Lyney’s hand comes up to push his hat on your head back down to cover your eyes. You yelp, and seeing you struggle makes him laugh.

“And as for the trick,” he switches the topic, as smooth as the way he does magic, “You’ll figure it out,” he winks.

You take off his hat and look into it with a frown. It was empty, you reach into it to find any secret compartment, there was none.

“Don't pout,” Lyney teased, “you’re just not looking at the right places,"

He takes his hat back from you gently, your fingers brushing. You had touched multiple times, being friends since you were practically children. But the contact lit something up inside of you, it made your stomach churn with butterflies.

Before you could ponder over what that meant, Lyney’s hand reached into his hat, “Aha,” he grinned, before taking out a rainbow rose.

“A thank you,” he smiled, handing the flower to you which you accept with an impressed smile, “for being my lovely assistant,”

“Don't you mean the audience?” you ask, ignoring the way you blushed, hoping it was almost dark enough he wouldn't see. The sun had begin to set.

“You're too special to be the audience,” he winks, “my assistant is more personal,”

When the stars come out and you part ways after he walks you home like the gentleman he is, you can’t help but stare at the rainbow rose placed by your bedside in a vase when you try to sleep. Pondering over the emotions stirring up inside of you as you think about him.

.

It wasn't as easy to ignore it as you thought it would have been.

When you woke up the next day you’d hope you snapped out of it. You never acknowledged your feelings because saying it would make it real. Because if you confirmed what it was you could never take it back again.

But staring at the rose, you feel heat creep onto your cheeks. You try to ignore it, to avoid thinking about it, but it only makes it worse. 

The way your fingers brushed, the way he denied you as his audience but more of his assistant, the way he looks at you gently and teases you. The way he could have been with his sister or anywhere spending his time any other way but he chose to be with you instead, watching the sunset by the beach.

Recalling the interactions you’ve had in the past, a few made you wonder if you’ve always felt like this towards him.

The three of you had once gotten into trouble with the gardes, running around and knocking a perfume vendor’s stand and breaking her bottles. It had been entirely your fault for running without looking, but Lyney had stepped between you and the garde, taking full responsibility. He had done a solo magic show for a week straight to pay off the damages just for you, and you had admired him for that.

You begin to think admiration was not the right word for it.

Recalling, you remember one day where you had been too sick to watch their performance and Lyney personally came over to your house with soup and a few props to entertain you. When he had learned you lived alone due to your parents being merchants, he began to come over more frequently after that. Often with Lynette or Freminet to keep you company. Freminet was someone new to you - but you both immediately bonded after he found out you too were interested in the ocean.

(In the future, Lynette tells you Lyney had searched for you everywhere. That he had asked almost, if not all the vendors and gardes at the Court if they knew where you lived. The information made your heart flutter - it never even hit you that Lyney never know where you lived)

Still, growing up you managed to keep your emotions all to yourself. Never giving a name to it, or acknowledging it. You and Lyney were close and there was no reason to avoid him. So you continue as you normally do. A trio. And more occasionally, a duo. Just you and Lyney.

.

It wasn't until a couple years later, after you grow up and out of the age where you develop crushes easily, and your feelings for Lyney were still there that you finally pay it any mind.

You have seen Lyney grow up as a person. From being a mere street magician when you were younger, to a person with a purpose. Under the stars one night, he shares a speck of his past with you. A purpose he had. He shares with you a prophecy you’ve once heard from your parents when you were younger, one you thought was merely a legend. He tells you with the conviction of someone who really believes it, and something about the way he tells you makes you believe it too.

You help him fulfill his purpose by supporting him. And in return he supports you, as he always did when you were younger.

You begin to take up a job as an editor in The Steambird as you grew, and that way you were able to help Lyney and Lynette by sneaking advertisements of their performance and discreetly spreading more information about the prophecy and where to seek help for relocation. You were a team, and the more time passed, the more the purpose became yours as well.

Your lives became busier and busier. The twins still performed, but lately they went out of the Court to do archons knows what. They’d tell you when they would leave, but returning was something of a gamble. Sometimes they don't return for days, sometimes weeks. And since you never knew where they went, it was difficult to send letters.

And just like that you were alone again. Though you were able to keep yourself busy with your job as the editor and sometimes Charlotte invited you to help her interview people or watch court proceedings, there was a hole in your heart that was hard to fill by anyone other than the two magicians. Hard to fill by anyone other than Lyney.

.

“Good work today!” Charlotte beams, “See you tomorrow!”

“See you,” you smile at the chirpy cryo user, clocking out for the day. It was an especially tiring one today, as it always was whenever a court proceeding takes place. Compiling and correcting Charlotte’s draft was a pain, they were written the same way she talks - all over the place, rapid and often assumptions instead of facts and truth. Sometimes you wonder if you were selling newspapers or scandal sheets.

You arrive home, the same quiet place you’ve lived for the rest of your life. You greet a photo of your parents by the door. They were a rare sight these days, but once you were older they had begun sending letters, including in them souvenirs from their trip. 

You take your mail inside to see if they sent anything else and after sifting through bills and advertisements, your eyes meet a stark red envelope, a card stamp in the corner.

Lyney

You open the envelope and was greeted with a letter, written neatly on a piece of parchment. It smelled of cold snow and ink, wherever he had written it from, it was most likely not Fontaine.

To my lovely assistant,  It has been a while, were you surprised by the letter? Haha, I can already imagine your face and what you’ll say. “My, magician Lyney is truly the best at surprising me, what a great magician he is!”. Save your flattery for when we meet, I know you have a lot. I will be returning in a week’s time, and I have something i would like to share with you. Oh, you must be very curious now. Please don't let me cause you to stay up all night wondering. Let us rendezvous by the sea when I return. On the sand where you once stole something from me, at the same hour when I had caught you being a thief. I can't wait to see you again, my heart. Sincerely yours, Lyney.

You fold the letter in your hands as your heart begins to race. An ace of hearts falls from the envelope and into your lap, as if knowing you had finished the letter. You pick it up.

My heart.

There was no way you could deny it any longer.

.

You never had experience with having an… affection towards someone. So you told Charlotte, which was, in hindsight, probably a bad idea. Though surprisingly (and, lucky for you) she had crossed her heart and swore on all the archons that she wouldn’t tell anyone. She laughed when you called it affection, calling it a crush. The word made you cringe, not in a bad way, but in a realization that that really is what it was. There is no way to deny it now.

“Rendezvous at the sea?” she exclaimed excitedly when the two of you were having lunch out together. “and he made a reference to when you were there together in your younger years? Oh my archons this is too much!” she places a hand over her heart, definitely enjoying the romantic drama between you two.

“He just has something to tell me, maybe he wants to share his journeys,” you tell her, not letting her fuel your delusions though you’d be lying if you said it wasn't working. Charlotte was looking too much into it, you tell yourself.

“But he has never sent you a letter before, right?” she says, putting her fork down, engrossed in dissecting the letter with you, “you always had to find out they were back by bumping into them by chance, or when Lyney would stop by at the Steambird for you - oh I see the whole picture now!” 

“Charlotte…”

At your worried tone, Charlotte gives you a sympathetic smile, “Sorry, I got excited,” she says sheepishly, “You can choose to ignore what I say, but it doesn’t erase the fact that he asked you to meet him at the beach by sunset. Take what you want from that, but at face value it already sounds like a date,” 

You look down at your dessert. You remember that day vividly, the day you had begun to see Lyney form your best friend to… something else. The day you began to feel these emotions, the emotions you’d only have towards Lyney.

The way your stomach churns with butterflies and how you feel electricity when your fingers brush. How you began to appreciate every moment with him as you grew and how the time he was away only made your heart long to be close again.

You couldn't deny it, you liked him. He had caught your attention when you were younger, and he still never failed to till this day.

Turning up to look back at Charlotte, you notice a street vendor selling flowers. One catches your eye immediately, a bouquet of rainbow roses.

“Ooh! Are you planning on getting him something?” Charlotte notices your gaze and follows it to see - “Flowers! What a romantic you are!”

“Don't you think its too much?” you say nervously. What if you were getting it all wrong? What was Lyney going to say to you that required you to meet at such a place?

If Lyney knew his letter was making you antsy and nervous like this, he’d never let you live it down. You could already see his smile and hear his teasing remarks, even when he wasn't there. What an effect he had on you.

“Nonsense,” Charlotte grins, “even if you’re not seeing it romantically, there’s no harm in giving him flowers as a welcome back present! Oh, you should get the rainbow rose,” 

“Rainbow rose?” you ask, wondering if she knew about the flower Lyney had given you.

Charlotte gave you a cheeky grin, “Rainbow roses are often used in performance to convey romance,” she says, swooning “If Lyney knew that, he’d take the subtle hint and might find out you reciprocate his feelings! And if not- well, they’re pretty flowers anyway,” 

“Wait, what?”

That made you freeze. You replay her words in your mind - rainbow roses are often used in performances to convey romance.

Your mind recalls back to years ago, when you were covered in sand and Lyney’s hat blinded you. When he accused you of being a thief for stealing his card. And stealing more than that. 

The card and letter comes into your mind. The ace of hearts. My heart, he addressed you.

The rainbow rose that you had kept, pressed in between pages of a book so you could preserve it forever. The rainbow rose he had given you that day. When you realized you liked him, but never cared to act on it.

“I'll get him a rainbow rose,” you tell Charlotte, and she cheers in triumph. That was the end of your talk about the magician, and for once, you feel as though you weren't scared.

.

You knew if Lyney were to confess to you, you'd accept it in a heartbeat. Now that you had connected the dots and was a little more confident, it was your turn to take him by surprise. To be one step ahead of him.

The following week came faster than you’d hope. Nights were spent practicing what you’d tell the magician when you meet him again. You had carefully taken care of the rainbow rose bouquet you bought for him, cutting the stems and watering it daily.

When the day comes, you leave your house when the sun begins to set, bouquet in hand. A reminder of the magician, and his past attempts to give you hints.

The sun casts a gentle glow at the magnificent structures of the Court of Fontaine. Vendors and noise starting to hush, being drowned out by the rushing water that gave a soft orange glow as your feet hit the sandy beach just outside, where you had started to develop feelings for the man who was there now.

Lyney stares beyond the ocean, looking the same as when he left. He must have sensed your presence, because he turns around the moment you arrive.

He calls your name gently. He looked as if he wanted to say something else, probably tease you, or ask if his letter really did hinder your sleep, but one sight of you made the words die on his tongue. His sly grin melted into a gentle smile.

“Lyney,” you smile when you see him. It had been a long while. Despite practicing what you’d say and do, the sight of him being there made your mind completely void. You outstretched your hands to give him the bouquet, and he takes it gently. His hands over yours when he takes it, examining the flowers with a soft smile.

“I knew you’d be impressed by my letter, but I didn’t know it was to this extent,” he finally takes them, gentle and precise hands caressing the petals of the rainbow rose. Seeing him now, you notice a lot of differences between him years ago. He was taller, his features more sharp, but there was still a gentle air around him. Lyney laughs, the sound making your heartbeat pick up, light and airy. “What's the occasion? I thought I was the one with the news,”

“I know what you’re going to tell me already,” you say, and a look of shock passes over Lyney, before he masks it. Finally, it was your turn to turn the tables and surprise the magician.

“Word travels fast then,” he grins, “so, what do you think?”

You take a deep breath and face the waters. Lyney tilts his head, as if he was suspicious of your actions, but before he speaks up, you cut him off.

“I like you, Lyney,” you say quietly. “I’ve liked you for a long time,”

His smile falls.

Fuck

“Oh,” he attempts to hide his surprise, “You must’ve gotten the wrong word then,” he says, as if to soften the blow. Which does the complete opposite; wrong - that's what he used to describe your words.

When you don't speak, Lyney purses his lips, “I’m performing at the Opera Epiclese in a few days, and I had wanted you to be my assistant.” he says, voice now sounding softer. You don't know if you were looking too into it, but his flirty tone was now gone. Replaced with something foreign - something you’ve never heard him use. It was devoid of anything. When Lyney spoke, you could never mistake what he was trying to convey. His tone was always clear - that's what you needed when becoming a performer, after all. To mislead your audience.

Mislead. How foolish you were to think you were any different than an audience of his.

Now he speaks with nothing, monotone, but kind.

You feel your heart clench painfully in your chest. So what was all of that? You wanted to ask him. You wanted to take back your words. You burned with embarrassment. So what was it that I had stolen besides your cards all those years ago? Why would you call me your heart? Why did you lead me on?

But you couldn’t. Instead you bite your lip and nod. It was never Lyney’s fault. He had always acted like that even when he was performing, what a fool you were to assume you we’re different, just because you had known him for almost all your life.

He takes a deep breath, "You mean a lot to me, please-" he says, trying to reach out, but you step back. Of course, Lyney would leave after that. He was too nice, above everything, he was your best friend. And you were his best friend. Nothing else; never had been. You look up and a look of hurt flashes in his eyes. All your years being together, you had never once fought. Disagreements sure, but avoiding him like this?

You can see the pain in his eyes, and it reminded you that despite having Lynette, he too was a lonely child in Fontaine. If the tables were turned, you’d also be hurt if he reacted this way. But you couldn't control your emotions, not after everything you had believed.

Its not fair, you wanted to say, that you can look so hurt when you’ve given me hope.

But maybe there was no hope to begin with. Perhaps the things you had assumed were hints had just been Lyney’s way of talking. 

Stupid.

“I-I’ll be there,” you say, looking away from him to avoid the stab of guilt his pained eyes gave you, “I’m sorry,” 

You make your way back, calling a lift to head up before he could catch up with you. And if you had went to meet him at Romaritime Harbor a few days later before his performance and saw him talking to a blonde haired outlander with the same smile he had given you before, and a familiar flower on her dress, he never would have known that you turned back around.

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About Ange

(last updated 6/8/25!)

Manaka Nagao, codename Ange, is a high schooler and singer who attempted suicide, but survived, and is now recovering. She joins the team as a “Phantom Idol”, or cognitive teammate.

Her codename refers to the pseudonym she uses online when posting her songs. It's derived from the word "Angel", because her fans regard her as having the "singing voice of an angel", and her Metaverse design was mentioned to be inspired by the concept of a "reborn angel".

Her Japanese voice actress is MoeMi.

Manaka is a Confidant of Wonder’s, though exactly what the earliest point it becomes available at is unclear. Her Confidant takes place after her grandmother, Chizuko Nagao (Vino)'s side story, and focuses on her efforts to regain her mobility and get back into singing. More information about Manaka’s Confidant can be found here.

She also had a special animated promo video focused on her.

She appears briefly at the very start of the story, first walking by Wonder as he exits school, then later being seen jumping off the roof of a two-story building across the street from the train station Wonder is standing in. As Ange is a Phantom Idol, however, it seems likely that this will be the full extent of her appearance in the main story.

Manaka is shown in Chizuko's side story to have an introverted, shy personality, though she really enjoys music and singing in particular, and has no problem poking fun at her grandmother. Her desires were previously stolen by a man who was harassing and stalking her online, deriding her music mercilessly and making her scared to do anything due to his threats, but after Wonder changed his heart and he apologized, she seems to have regained some confidence.

Her Persona is Euterpe (based on the Greek muse of music), and functions as a navigator. Ange sits in the chair at the center of her Persona and sings to use her skills.

Euterpe is an Elucidation Persona, the designation used for navigators, and her trait gives her one "Hymn" at the start of each thief's turn (stacks up to 12). Also, at the start of combat, her special ability, "Song of a Thousand Sounds", can be used once. Once Wonder has taken 7 turns since its initial use, the ability will recharge one use, once per combat. Song of a Thousand Sounds dispels one negative status effect on the selected teammate, then grants them a special bonus turn which reverts them to the state they were in immediately before they took their normal turn (skill cooldowns, status effects, current health, and current SP are all included in this).

She has three support skills, which have cooldowns to use, but can be called in at will otherwise: her first support skill buffs the damage dealt by all teammates based on Ange's attack stat for two turns (then grants Ange four Hymns); second support skill heals all teammates based on Ange's attack stat and removes one negative status effect on each of them (if Ange has "Anthem", up to four levels of it will be consumed to reduce this skill's recharge time, by one turn for each level. Whenever Ange has 12 Hymns, she will consume them all to use this skill automatically, but the healing amount is reduced); her third support skill buffs the attack stat of all teammates based on Ange's attack stat, then consumes all Hymns she has and buffs their penetration and attack stats again based on how many Hymns were consumed, for two rounds.

Her passive skills buff all teammates based on Ange's stats, buff an ally's attack stat while they're in the Song of a Thousand Sounds' extra turn, and buff the penetration stat of all allies based on how many Hymns Ange currently has (stacks up to 12).

While she doesn’t strictly have a melee or ranged weapon as a navigator, P5X does have tools that the navigators use for their abilities, also obtained through the weapon gacha, and hers are microphones.

Her recommended card sets are 1) 3 of Coins (Works) + King of Cups (Hope), 2) 4 of Coins (Power) + Page of Coins (Growth).

The game has no particular recommended teams for her at the moment.

[petra-creat0r]

Deltarune: Fool's Fate Chapter 1 Shopkeep

Okay so this should be the last important character ref for Chapter 1, aka the Attic World. (i need a better name for this Dark World.) After this my plan is to post the minor characters like enemies, NPCs, and Minibosses but once those are out, I'm not sure what to start on next. I have many things I could work on, it's just a matter of choosing. Thus why shortly after posting this, I'll be putting up a poll. Anyways! Onto Jeanie!

The shopkeep of the first area, aka the Dusty Plains, Jeanie (like the spirit) is a mystic snake who lives alone in her tent and tells the fortunes of whoever enters. If we're to think in terms of mapping parts of the Attic World to Chapter 1 of Deltarune proper, imagine Jeanie as the Seam of the chapter. Some of her dialogue even makes mention to the cat plush, even though the two have never met proper.

Her name is a play on "genie", being said the same, just spelled differently, and tying to her mystic, fortune-teller vibe and occupation. As for inspiration, asides from taking on the appearance of a hooded cobra (a lot of the Attic World has some snake ties because of Broadway), Jeanie is an old fortune telling machine. I'm not sure if she's the full machine, or just a part of it, but that is her Light World counterpart. Her connection to tarot cards is likely due to the machine incorporating them into it's gimmick.

Being the first shopkeep, Jeanie's wares are rather basic. A healing item found a few times prior to meeting her, aka the Fortune Cookie, a stronger healing item in the Stitched Stew, a basic armor in the Crystal Lace, and a weapon for Chicago in the Fortune Cutters. I have descriptions for each of those items incase anyone's interested.

For a better look at her character, here's a quote from her shop dialogue when you ask Jeanie about herself.

"The name is Jeanie, like the spirit. Mystical Serpent of Mystery. This tent is my where I sell mystical charms and read palms, paws, and tails. I've seen quite a lot in my time telling fortunes. The past, the present... Perhaps even the future. Hee hee hee..."

Aside from asking about herself, during their first encounter with Jeanie, the player would be able to ask Jeanie about the Magician, ask for a Card Reading, or ask Jeanie how she was expecting the party based on her shop enter dialogue (depicted in the image above). Some of her dialogue will change later in the chapter, mostly after running into her a second time in the second area (the Feathered Forest) or once encountering Dorothy (the secret boss) both before and after fighting her. Under the cut is a list of what Jeanie has to say in her talk options.

You were expecting us?

"Legends have spread far and wide of Lightners who will come to seal fountains. Three legendary heroes who will save both light and dark from calamity. More recently, there have been tales and rumors among the Upper Choir of three young heroes destined to replace the Blue Knight and dethrone the High Priestess.

Call it premotion, call it fate, if you will... I simply call it inevitable that we would meet."

The Magician?

"Hmm? I'm afraid I do not know of the cat you speak off." She grins "Hee hee hee. Just kidding. You mean Magico, correct? He is quite the trickster, isn't he? I heard he's been trying capture the Lightners who've come to seal the Fountain. All in the name of the High Priestess. He wasn't always under her reign. None of us were. Our land did not have a singular, set ruler until recently. We were ruled by a collective choir. Until one day, a mysterious knight appeared, and appointed the highest Choir member, the Priestess, into power. After which, she appointed Magico the Head Magician and her right hand. It's been quite some time since this land has seen such upset in the Choir. Not since... Well, perhaps it's better you not learn of that just yet."

Card Reading (Beginning of Chapter, before Broadway joins party)

"The Fool, The Magician, and The High Priestess. It seems your journey is just beginning, young heroes. Yet I sense great potiental and power shining within you. Perhaps such potential will aid you in the facing the powers and entities yet unknown. Even still, buying a small protection charm wouldn't hurt."

Reading (Encountering Jeanie outside of her shop in Feathered Forest with Broadway)

"I left my cards back at my tent, but I can still read your fate through the vibrations of your soul. Hmm... Interesting. I sense a lack of control. A slipping of string. Perhaps brought on by someone close to you interfering with your prior norm? ... I suggest you talk things out with them, young hero."

Card Reading (Back tracking after CK and Remie re-join the party again but before the Chapel)

"Three of Cups, Eight of Swords, and Five of Wands. It seems the rest of your party has returned to you. Though you've been apart for a time, it's important to remember the value of working as a team. Especially since a great challenge still awaits you all on the path ahead. The Chapel and Priestess still lie ahead, young heroes. Be weary not to let your own ambition and feelings get in the way of your collective goal."

Card Reading (Back tracking after entering the Choral Chapel)

"The High Priestess, reversed Nine of Swords, and Nine of Wands. It seems the final leg of this journey lays before you, young ones. Soon you shall duel with the Priestess to end her tyrannical reign. Bringing a new light to this land. However such a battle can wait for a little while. Your adventure has been long and tiring, has it not? Why not take a short rest? I can make some tea and read the leaves before you must set off once more."

Odd Doll (After first talking to Dorothy)

"I sense you three have come across a strange presence oddly familiar but which you've never known. A strange prisoner whom speaks in stitched together tongue? ... So I see. Seems the Magician couldn't hide her from all eyes forever. ... I see many paths if you chose to go down this route more, yet oddly enough... The one in which you try and release her holds the most promise. It would not be my personal advice but... The stars have yet to steer me wrong yet. Perhaps dealing with the doll once and for all will yield a brighter future for everyone. ... Perhaps it was wrong to lock her away to begin with. A key? I do not hold it, but I have a sense as to were the Magician hid it. Hidden among the trees, in the thicket of the dark. You'll find the path you seek, if you chose to take the lark. That's all the advice I can give, so I would advise turning to the Magician if you get stuck further. I wish you luck on your journey, young ones, and my the stars guide your path."

"Gate blocking your path? As I said, I can offer no more advise. Perhaps seek the Magician for assistance."

Odd Doll (After opening Dorothy's cell)

"So you say you've opened the door? That explains the wrathful energy I feel far away..." I'm afraid can't see where your future leads from here. Do tell me how this plays out, if you can. Or don't. I merely predict your path, only you can decide it."

About DOROTHY (After defeating Dorothy)

"Judgment, Reversed six of wands, and The Chariot. I may not have known that doll for long, but I knew her cards, her fate, the path the stars laid out for her. Or perhaps the path she forged herself… Once she was nothing more than a blank doll. No face, no name, no path. She was a fool just as you are. Yet one day, she came across a strange someone and it seemed her stars had finally aligned. She had been gifted an identity and purpose from some higher power, she said. To this day, I still don't quite understand what she meant by that. Rambling on about the Truth, or our purpose, of creating our own stars…Yet I didn't NOT understand at the same time… At some point she was let into the Upper Choir, but even they eventually grew annoyed with her ramblings. And so they cast her out. Exiled her back to these dust ridden plains. She grew enraged, filled with an anger and hatred for all that betrayed her. She had to be locked away before she could hurt anyone else. It shames me that I had to be the one to call the guard… Ever since, I've mulled over the cards and stars, seeking answers to what she said. Yet the skies shone dark and the cards even darker. The only thing I've come back with are more questions than when I started. It makes one wonder…How much of the universe and fate can be understood and predicated… And how much can only be navigated by the blind?"

We Won (After defeating Dorothy)

"The six of wands, the Tower, and the Devil. So, it is true? You really defeated her? Then you three truly must be the heroes of legend after all… However be warned, DOROTHY is merely the first step in your fool's journey. There is still a long way to go, and many more obstacles to face. And one day soon… even the most darkest evil of all. Hee hee hee… Well, I can only wish you luck. Perhaps once you reach that point You can come back here and I shall read your scattered destiny once more."

-------------------------------------------

31 39s 38, 27 6 7 4 50 39 44, 15 19t 21ly

31 39s 38, 27 6 7 5 50 39 44, 16 6 9

31 39s 38, 27 6 7 1 50 39 44, 41 re49 39

31 39s 38, 27 6 7 3 50 39 44, 40 6 2 25

31 39s 38, 27 48 8st 50 50 39 23, 35 32 27 13

31 39s 35 32, 27 34 4feated. 50 39 35 32, 46s 10 47ed.

31 33s 34 39, 27 34 & 29 50r 18, yet 6 2 45ed

31 28s 22, can 35t 6 11ed 50 28 36, of 26 this 10 20s

31 43s the 24, 27 43s 15 in 47, 30 & 42ess, 34ly 14.

31 39s 38, 24ish 27 39ed 6. 50r 47 37 32. 17 39, will 35t 50?

[jackandjellyfries]

My opinions on TPOT 18

‼️WARNING‼️Spoilers + This post gets long + My typical Four fangirling

I won't be going TOO deep into the episode. I don't like overanalyzing every single little detail about everything. I'll just be talking about stuff I liked, stuff I disliked, and if you've seen my blog before then you guessed it, Four.

And listen closely here before I start this. I've seen quite a few people hate on the episode and mention their dislike for post-split BFB. I may have only been a fan of BFDI ever since TPOT 11 or so, I haven't been around since pre-split BFB or before BFB ever existed, and I'm not one of the surprisingly many fans I've seen who prefer pre-split or dislike post-split, but I still love BFB and I've been wishing for more of it ever since I started watching TPOT and never stopped. I get why some wouldn't like it and people are allowed to have their own opinions, but I for one think straight up hating it is ridiculous. Change my mind, I dare you. I dare you as a teenage girl with her period and raging hormones only being three something days away.

With that out of the way-

I was so excited about a new TPOT episode coming out that I completely forgot it would be about the contestants from BFB, but I'm not complaining. Just like when Four and X showed up in TPOT 6 and hosted in TPOT 16, I freaked out when I saw the BFB intro again. Except I freaked out even more this time. I literally squealed seeing it! And when I say I squealed, I mean I SCREAMED. IT FELT LIKE I WAS WATCHING A NEW EPISODE OF BFB Yeah I know the episode is literally called BFB 31, chill. I'm just so happy :D

After the intro played, I was a little confused and thrown off. It seemed like there were no official subtitles set, so I turned them off because I just don't like incorrect subtitles, so sometimes I couldn't understand lines the first time. And it took me a second to realize that Four was going nuts on everybody because of Lollipop's missing card. After he explained to everybody about the memory thing, I still couldn't follow properly until Four mentioned everybody was in each other's memories instead of their own. After that, it quickly clicked that I could tell who was in who's memory because of the icon in the top left corner of the screen. Aside from Woody switching from his current voice to reuses of his old voice which were a little annoying at times, but bearable, everything was pretty great from that point on!

I was mostly waiting for Four to show up again, but I was also curious to see what the old BFBers were up to and how they were doing. Even if it was short, I was glad to see how the interaction between Bubble, Ruby and Match continued. Curiosity has been killing me for a while now. I wasn't so interested in the events afterwards until Four came back on screen. The Loser appearance just annoyed me because I haven't ever liked Loser. Vibing to the montage music was pretty nice, I need a longer version of it- Oh and I cackled like a witch when this came up:

Bro. This goofass XD You can't blame me for being obsessed. Look at him. Also whenever his back is facing the camera, he usually doesn't look correct, but this time he does- I noticed it as soon as I saw it because it was so out of the ordinary, but I'm not complaining.

Skipping ahead until Profily (is that how you spell his name) showed up. My opinions on Profily were always mixed, but I didn't like him at all this episode. He was whiny and acting like a kid.

Again skipping ahead to Loser because I have nothing to say about the events in between Profily killing off everybody like an idiot and Loser showing up. I was annoyed all over again until he noticed Winner. Winner is a character I like because of their design, backstory and personality, and even if I didn't like Loser, I was interested in their history. Seeing Winner enjoying their Loser-Os made me so HAPPY when watching TPOT 17. Now Loser's gonna go see Winner? I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT! Maybe this will lessen or completely evaporate my dislike for Loser? Who knows? We'll see :D

Now the post-credit scenes. I had almost zero clue what was going on the first time I saw them, but I just went back to rewatch them. As far as I can gather, Lollipop now knows whether or not Profily is lying about being in BFDI all this time, and I'm not too sure about Balloony. Maybe he'll see where the Announcer is from? I don't know.

Now onto THIS BLUE COCKROACH THATILOVESOMUCHAAAAA-

-AAAABefore I completely lose my marbles, I wanna talk about the scene from the last image. After TPOT 15, I became aware of the theory that Four and X are (or at least Four) working with One or know about her. It's pretty interesting, and I'd love to see how the TPOT contestants finding out about Four's possible connection with One would go down. Four definitely knows something with the way he looked at Fanny, TB and GB when they entered Two's room. And I'm ALL FOR IT. It's definitely what got me MOST EXCITED FOR TPOT 19. WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THIS? WHAT ARE THE THREE OF THEM GONNA DO? WHAT IS FOUR GONNA DO? I NEED TO KNOWWW SO BADLYYYYY

Even if Four is just as clueless as them though I STILL LOVE HIM SO MUCHHH GAH I WANNA SQUEEZE HIM BUT I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE PLUSHIE OF HIMMM

IMMA GO PLAY WITH A SHIMEJI OF HIM NOW

In case anyone else is interested in a shimeji after I mentioned it:

OKAY BYE

[agoraphobic-artist]

KURO-SHIT <3

The first item in our Black Butler Haul is a double sided poster of unknown origins. Seemingly drawn by the A-1 anime team that is all the information I have.

My better half @mister-astringent loved both sides of this poster and as we have very little merch of Tanaka I conceded.

Look at him. With his weird little Snowman.

The second and third items are these adorable foam hangers from Book of The Atlantic. I again have very little merchandise of the "mini" Midfords, so here are Elizabeth and Edward ready to throw down with some reanimated corpses.

Bought as a bundle, I now have the full set of Kuroshitsuji Clear Acrylic A4 posters.

These posters were given out as part of a promotion for The Public School Arc in Japan.

The first three character specific posters have a clear window behind their design, but honestly the Sebastian and Ciel full colour print is my favourite.

My fifth order item is this Undertaker Acrylic Standee from Book of Atlantic.

When doing some digging it appears to have been from an Aniplex collaboration with Aimon.

This particular character design of the set really stood out for me, because although they all are pretty to look at, undertaker canonically has stood in front of stained glass windows: in quite an iconic moment of the series.

The background is holographic and honestly the photos don't do justice, for how beautiful the shimmering colour changes are in the light.

A one of a kind item next and technically last.

While browsing for new items to add to the collection, I came across a seller who hand carves erasers (Linocut) for stamping.

They had a ton of designs from various series available, so naturally I had a good look through all the Black Butler ones; I found this P4 one early on and fell in love with it.

The stamp is incredibly detailed and impressively carved, something I appreciate as someone "Arts and Crafty".

BONUS ITEMS: Unfortunately, I cannot open them to give a better look yet as they are joint gifts for Xmas, but we are going to be exchanging the Groove Inc Pullips of Robin and Tutor.

So expect mass postings of their details probably in late December or the New year.

I can tell you though, that their eyes are stunning, and the details that have gone into them are gorgeous to look at. The boxes designs are cute as hell, with all of their extra items laid out around the dolls and it seems like they also seem to come with little collector cards as well.

...One of my many merchandise collecting weaknesses...

~A quick little side note though~

WHO WAS GOING TO TELL ME!? LIKE ACTUALLY!!!

These dolls are massive! Both me and @mister-astringent thought that they would be around the 9 or 10 Inch mark.

However, we just did a rough measurement and Robin is 12"ish and Tutor is approximately 14"!!!

(The RAH dolls are to show the scale of these monsters)

Can't wait to open these up in December <3

[sunniedesi]

All Future Diary Merch (Part 3)

~~ A comprehensive list

The final finale finally, under the cut!

~ TCG games

While I’ve seen a couple trading card games feature cards with Yuno, or characters who very closely resemble her appearance, Future Diary has only had two official trading card games to my knowledge (both of which I’ve made in-depth posts about in the past):

Victory Spark

Project Revolution

Bushiroad, the company that created Victory Spark, also released other TCG goodies, such as two sets of card sleeves and a card-holder themed after Future Diary.

~ Pachinko and Pachisuro

I’m planning on making a more detailed post about this in the future, so I’ll hold off on the details for now. Like many popular franchises in Japan, Future Diary has two slot machines: a pachinko and pachisuro. You can find many videos of the animation and gameplays on Youtube.

~ Another World

This is another one I’m planning to talk about more in-depth in the future, but Future Diary had a live-action adaptation that was released shortly after the anime. It is titled “Future Diary: Another World.” I’m mentioning it here because it has a few products associated to it:

The Another World DVD/Blu-Ray set. The limited edition set included a special DVD box and 50-page booklet (which also included an Esuno interview).

The show’s theme song in disk form. 

A Deus (live action ver.) keychain. I've seen it before, but can't find the picture for the life of me, so just imagine this exact image with a keyring.

Postcards drawn by Esuno, which feature the leads of the show in the manga’s style.

Also, random fact: Nissan was one of the sponsors behind this show (yes, the car company) and they made a series of video adverts featuring this same illustration as an end-card. We only have an image of the ad, as none of the adverts have yet to surface online (yay, lost media). All we know about the adverts is that they followed a short and unique storyline about a girl who gained a Future Diary called the "Diet Diary," as she's trying to lose weight (gotta give it to Japan for inserting weight loss in literally anything, including car comercials).

~ Illustrated Cards/Papers

I left the best for last. And by best I mean the one that drove me the most nuts, because there is a ton of promotional cards for Future Diary. A great portion of these came as “thank you” gifts for purchasing a volume of the manga, others were part of limited edition promos, and others I’m not too sure of their origin. I can't show each card individually due to Tumblr's photo limit, so I created a few lineups to show them together. I hate doing this because it nerfs the little quality these pictures have, but it is what it is.

To start, the guidebook thankfully compiles plenty of the illustrated papers:

The guidebook goes into detail about where each one of these is from (look forward to the TL for that!), but to keep a long story short, these came as "thank you" notes for purchasing a volume of the main series or one of the spin-offs.

In the same vein as that, there are other three cards I've found online which came as "thank you" gifts for purchasing the manga. These don't appear in the guidebook for some reason, though:

The first one appears to be for volume 6 (can't be too sure since I can't read it), the second is for volume 2 and the third for volume 9. Also, the art from the first card is actually scrapped art that Esuno once posted on his blog!

Besides the papers, some editions of the manga also came with bonus poster cards. I think these might've been for special editions of the manga, but I'm not entirely certain:

The first from the top is from volume 8, the second from volume 7, and the third is actually from the special edition of the first DVD volume. The first from the bottom is from volume 9, and the next one from volume 6.

As I mentioned earlier, some illustrated cards were created as promotional material. Such is the case for a famous store in Akihabara called "Gamers," which produced some limited edition Future Diary cards. How many of these cards exist is a mystery to me, but I know of at least these six:

Note: the photo of the Minene card on the top-right has sample text I couldn't remove, so it's not supposed to look like that. Very annoying.

While it feels good to know where everything comes from, we can't always be so lucky. This last lineup I call: who, what and why are you?

If anyone knows the origin of these weird little guys, please let me know! Also, this is certainly not all the illustrated cards and papers that exist, but they're all I can get ahold of. Again, if anyone has more to share, please do.

Bonus: does anyone remember that Lucky Star x Future Diary art? It was actually made into a tosho card!

This marks the end of the merch list. If you've made it through all three parts, thank you! This is one of three larger posts I had planned for a while, but it’s been on the backburner due to the sheer amount of information I needed to parse through. It soon became pretty overwhelming. However, I think I managed to curate everything to the best of my abilities. I know some stuff is likely still missing, but I’m satisfied with having covered most of it. As I mentioned earlier in the post, my other two projects involve diving deeper into the live action and the pachinko. They’re also pretty overwhelming, but hopefully they won’t be sitting in the backburner as long as this one. Till then, toodles (^.~)〜☆

[tideswept]

🍄🍬❄️

Ahoy other nonnie! o7

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

mmmmmn I'll do three for. Reasons. :)

obikin: Obi-Wan is the truly unhinged one in the relationship. Sorry. He puts up a good front but I thoroughly believe that man would, if the circumstances aligned, out-unhinge Anakin in every conceivable metric, and he'd somehow make it all appear reasonable. Totally what he had to do at that moment. There was no better choice available.

jonelias: if "soulmates" existed in TMA, Elias would have had zero compunction about killing his soulmate if necessary. (Though he'd simply avoid or politely reject them if it weren't.) And if they kept being reincarnated? He'd still maintain the same stance. Not interested. Not useful to him. But Jon, Jon is the one he chooses, and that's far more meaningful to him than something as insignificant as a soulmate. (and if Jon also has a soulmate, well... he'll deal with that in whatever way he must.) (And I don't mean he'd automatically kill them!) (Unless he personally finds them unworthy) (then all bets are off)

hartwin: Eggsy is the sane, practical one. Harry has gone too long being the wild card, being too good, too lucky, too independent. Harry overly relies on money, on technology, on social cachet to ease his way through what little of every day life he must go through in between Kingsman and missions for Kingsman. That isn't to say Harry is incapable of being a competent adult, it's that he hasn't needed to for decades, and he's redirected his energy to the spy life. He can charm anyone... but he's rusty at actually having relationships. At building a life with someone. At having someone else in his space. In having anything even remotely resembling a work/life balance. Eggsy might think Harry is someone to emulate and learn from, but to Harry, Eggsy legit is the better half of their relationship.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

I don't think Obi-Wan Kenobi is a slut. 🤷 I think it's way more likely that he's a virgin. (Though I can and will write him either way, and with many other varying levels of experience/enthusiasm/interest in sex, because fanfic is fun like that. :D)

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

uh damn that's hard??? There's a lot of valid answers that could go here. So. Um. I'm going to cheat :D I'd love a GFFA fanfic that is mostly focused around what happened when Anakin became a Force Ghost, and his reunion with Obi-Wan. And it could take place across different timelines and flashbacks or w/e (that's what I've been thinking for a fic) but the main emphasis is their new situation, a fourth (master/padawan, generals, enemies) iteration of their ever-shifting dynamic, and one that I really never see explored. And I'd love to see @darthwillies tackle it and make me cry. my second dream plot is that I'd love to see @underacalicosky tackle an obikin werewolf or witch AU! thinking modern day, Anakin having been raised alone, either unaware that he wasn't the only one or knowing that there were more [werewolves/witches] out there but finding that they were unwilling to even go near him or would attack him unprovoked when he approached. So he's twitchy, wary, a total asshole at the slightest thing that sets him off, but oh does he want to learn. And of course he's ridiculously powerful/a prodigy and how did he even survive this long by himself, where did he even come from, and Obi-Wan knows everyone is asking themselves this, maybe he volunteers to teach Anakin what he needs to know, maybe he's ordered. But none of that matters if he can't get Anakin to trust him first.

📚 [ask meme!]

🍓 [quick jump to ask inbox]

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Of Celtic Crosses and Wheels of Fortune

Hey there! So as I'm sure most of us are aware by now, in Double, Mikoto's diamond earrings have now changed into earrings which look suspiciously like the tarot card of the Wheel of Fortune, and the symbol also appears repeatedly throughout the MV.

This actually could confirm something I had been suspecting since MeMe regarding how we're meant to read the celtic cross spreads which appear there, and has some interesting symbolism attached to it.

CW Murder, workplace abuse

So it's pretty widely known that there are three different celtic cross spreads which appear throughout MeMe. Here they are:

(The first one actually flashes on screen twice, but there's no noticeable difference between the two appearances so they're assumed to be the same spread)

The third one is filled out by the cards which appear afterwards.

So, how does one read these spreads? ... No seriously, how are we supposed to read them? I don't engage in divination, I don't know what I'm doing. Let's hit up the internet to see how we're supposed to go about this!

Ah, I see. The problem with tarot cross spreads is that the order the querent sets up the cards and the meaning they each have is arbitrary. In fact, as you can see, there's even cultural differences between how Japanese people read it vs how westerners read it. But, is there any way to know how Mikoto reads them? I believe so.

So let's start by what's always the same. The first card always goes in the center of The Wheel (yes that's the name of the thing), the second on top of it, and the last four go bottom to top in The Wand (or The Pillar or some other name). The question comes from the other four cards in The Wheel.

Why is this important? Well, because the order of drawing changes the meaning. If you draw them in a circular fashion (case 2 in the above diagrams), the cards have meaning based on draw order. If you draw them in any other way, they have meaning based on position. This means to know how we're supposed to read them, we need to know how Mikoto draws them.

Thankfully, there is a way I think we can tell. Check out the ending of MeMe:

The second card goes on top of the first, as established. Then, the next four appear with a part of the card off frame. Even though card 3 is off center, only the bottom is cut off. Card 4 has the right cut off, then card 5 has right, then card 6 has top. Thus, the draw order is likely bottom, right, left, top. This... doesn't match any of the websites I checked, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's not a circle, so the meaning is related to position.

For our purposes this post, we're interested in the middle three. The left card is the past, the middle (first card) is present, the right is future... in western readings. Look back at the Japanese examples I gave:

未来 is future.

過去 is past.

As you can see, because Japanese people have different reading rules, sometimes they read the spread Past->Present->Future, but sometimes they read it Future<-Present<-Past. The way you tell which is which is that the Past card is always drawn before the Future. Which, yeah, makes sense. Looking back at Mikoto, he draws the card on the right before the card on the left, meaning we're probably supposed to read it Future<-Present<-Past.

Alright got it? Good. Now, we have to check which spread belongs to each alter.

The third spread is easiest. Based on the lighting, the punch at the end, the red mannequin in The Fool card which carries a skull, etc, John appears to be the one reading it. There are more reasons to believe this, but they require a deeper reading of the spread than I'm willing to enter here. So trust me bro.

Then, the second spread has the reversed King of Cups in the first card of The Wand.

That card of the spread represents... different things depending on the source, but generally it's the attitude the querent takes about the problem they face, the power they have over the situation, or even advice; basically, it's how the querent approaches their problems. The reversed King of Cups can mean a lot of different things, including emotional repression or violence. However, since John has this card in this position as well, we can assume this querent approaches problems the same way John does. We can thereby assume this spread belongs to the left-handed alter who also killed someone, who I'll call Midokoto. Yes I still believe Trikoto (probably should make a post compiling evidence in Double, which there's a decent bit of), since the host is probably right-handed. By process of elimination, the first spread must be the host's, who I'll just call Mikoto. Again, there's other reasons to believe this, but I don't want to go too deep into the spreads.

Alright, back to the Wheel of Fortune. I'll start with the second spread, which has it reversed in the Concious ("as above") position. This position represents what the querent wants, the thing they are actively and conciously working towards. The reversed Wheel of Fortune can represent several things, including misfortune, unhealthy cycles, etc, but in this position, I believe the most applicable reading could be resistance to change. In other words, this alter is actively working towards keeping their life as it is.

[MeMe] Maybe it's ok to try to keep on living Split in half, make that heart beat

I've talked about it before, but I believe this is what Midokoto is working towards. Although that post is slightly outdated (I now no longer believe pronouns in lyrics are a good way to determine which alter is on screen), I still believe this is Midokoto speaking. He's the only alter who doesn't want change, which I think may also be implied by Double. You know those image flashes which appear all throughout Double? The only one we can be sure is probably attached to Midokoto is this (plus a few other images):

After all, this alter holds the bloodied bat with the left hand. You can also see the "crown of thorns" associated with John (long story) isn't over his head, and the antlers connected to Mikoto (long story) are nowhere to be seen, but I'm not sure that makes sense to anyone but me. I really should make a "Trikoto in Double" post huh.

(Note: The English lyrics on screen simply repeat "I was having such a hard time, I was trying so hard", which applies to all alters and doesn't use a pronoun in Japanese)

The thing you'll notice are the diamonds there, which look a lot like the earrings Mikoto was wearing prior to Double. This is, as far as I can tell, the only time these things show up in one of these image flashes. Additionally, this is one of, if not the only image flash which doesn't include the Wheel of Fortune. And the Wheel of Forutne by itself a symbol of change, and of cycles. Thus, this is the alter who doesn't want change, and who is least involved in the cyces of their lives; Midokoto.

Is this good or confirmation bias? Good question! Moving on.

Because you see, the most interesting thing to me isn't the second spread, but the other two. Because the Wheel of Fortune reversed is the Future of the first spread, but its upright version is the Past of the third.

This already tells us some stuff, doesn't it? Mikoto's future in that spread is John's Past in a way, which makes sense. The outcome of the first spread is The Devil, a card which is representative of the querent's darkest desires, which-

[Neoplasm] (Translation) John: I might be the person Boku wishes he was. The person who stubbornly stands his ground, who doesn’t cry himself to sleep from stress, who gives people their payback.

Oh, hey John! Yeah, between that line and the Devil card coming out of the mirror in that one scene of MeMe, it's fair to say John is represented by the Devil card in some way. In other words, both the outcome card and the Future card point at the appearance of John as a result of the toxic cycles in Mikoto's life. Mainly overworking, apparently.

What's interesting about these cycles is that the opposite is also true. John's Future is the Five of Swords, the same card in the Past of the two other spreads.

This card in this position basically means (among other things) conflict, in particular defeat or walking away from a conflict. I believe this represent's Mikoto's actions after John/Midokoto kill someone. After some stress is alleaviated, Mikoto begins fronting most of the time, and he doesn't want to engage in conflict. He tries to make everyone happy, which ends up stressing him and once again starting the unhealthy cycles of abuse in his life, the "reversed Wheel of Fortune", which once again leads to John breaking the cycle by killing a threat. Does that make sense?

That's why the Wheel of Fortune card is upright in John's Past. Because it's the Past, it's possible to interpret it as the destruction of an unhealthy cycle. In other words, John appears to break an unhealthy cycle... or, he appears when an unhealthy cycle is broken.

This is where we acknowledge the card in MeMe is different from the one in real life.

For one, all the missing animals and mythological creatures, but I won't get into it. The presence of multiple wheels can be seen as a representation of various cycles, and they're bike wheels for likely no other reason beyond stylization purposes.

However, what's interesting is that there's already blood on the wheel. Naturally because this cycle involves murder, but if so, does it make sense for it to be in John's Past if he's the only killer? You could certainly read this as "someone had already died by the time John split from the system", which fits the theory John only split from the trauma of a murder and not just stress. But that may just be confirmation bias, so take it with a grain of salt.

Regardless of that, this whole explanation serves to answer why the Wheel of Fortune is so important to Double. It's showing this cycle more directly. The unhealthy cycles from overworking and hiding feelings end up in murder. The symbol is connected to both Mikoto and John since they make up the cycle (mostly) and wish to break it, but not to Midokoto, maybe. It's weird.

Anyways, regardless of whether or not you agree with my insane ramblings, I hope you enjoyed the analysis! Take care!

[isleofair]

Tiger & Bunny Week Day 5

Fan Theories and/or Predictions

I've been wanting to make this meta post for a long while, but since there was no way to reach any truly solid conclusions, I always ended up setting it aside.

But since today's prompt is fan theories... I figure I might as well give this the best go I can!

Today on "Aria fixates on scraps of collateral canon in an attempt to better figure out the Tiger & Bunny timeline, since the authors just will not give us the info straight up, dammit": when did each of the characters debut as a hero?

(under a cut for length and screenshots of actual excel spreadsheets lol)

So, we know the answer to that question for sure for about half of the heroes: Wild Tiger debuted in NC1967, Barnaby in NC1977, and the three new kids in NC1980 (at least in Stern Bild; Subaru worked for a little while as a hero in Panjourney before joining Hero TV).

(Yeah, the hero card of himself Kotetsu picks up in the pilot is technically for the '76-'77 season of Hero TV, so maybe it saying he's got 10 years of experience means his debut was actually in NC1966... but nothing says the cards don't get updated as the season goes on, and this isn't too relevant to my number crunching, anyway.)

As for the rest of them, we can make at least an attempt at (vaguely) guessing by analyzing the experience data on the Hero Cards, which you can see for Season 1 and The Rising here on the amazing Merch Wiki (shoutout to @tnbscans 😘), and for Season 2 here in an older post of mine, or here on Twitter (both courtesy of @Kazuko_01 over there).

This is a chart of the experience values in all the available hero cards:

The reason Barnaby's values are in yellow is that they really, REALLY tried to throw off all of my math 😅

See, the experience values seem to only take into account how many seasons of Hero TV (or an equivalent of it) you've appeared in, however briefly. (At some point I thought maybe becoming the King of Heroes would grant you bonus exp, but Karina doesn't seem to get a boost from the '79-'80 season, when the CD dramas tell us she tied with Keith and became the Queen of Heroes.)

Barnaby took essentially all of NC1979 off, spent a quarter of NC1980 in the Second League, and his score during the Rising is still an absurd 3/5. The only possible way that can even remotely work is that the time off is discounted entirely AND that the exp values aren't strictly proportional to your years of experience, but more along the lines of a curve (stretched every time to accomodate the longest career, Kotetsu's) where having been a hero for at least a season before, as opposed to being a rookie, gives you an additional point on the scale, and each subsequent point requires more years of extra experience.

(This would make a certain amount of sense: there's a lot of difference between being a total rookie and someone who's been on another season, or two, but not that much difference between having worked 9 or 10 seasons before.)

The crucial facts to make this work, and the reasons I had to discard a lot of other possible ways map the years to the exp values, are:

The cards, in spite of having 5 possible scores in S1 and The Rising and 6 possible scores in S2, really only ever have a baseline plus four extra values above it, since the 1/6 or 0.5/3 score in the S2 cards is unused (hence me counting the scores as "out of 3"). I initially thought maybe it was because all the S2 kids had some prior experience, since Subaru used to be a hero before coming to Stern Bild, but the manga tells us Thomas for sure did not, so it's not that (RIP Subaru for them ignoring your days as Hello Goodbye);

Bunny skips ahead two notches between his debut in the 1977-78 season and the 1979-80 season in The Rising;

Antonio goes from having max 5/5 experience along with Kotetsu in S1 to having a score of 2.5/3 (or 5/6), along with Nathan, Keith, and Ryan, in S2. This means he definitely debuted after Kotetsu, but before Nathan and Keith (and almost certainly Ryan).

With all of that in mind, this is the best possible thing I could personally come up with:

I marked down the two most likely ways to map the years to the exp values for each set of cards that still somehow work at the bottom (with blue being min experience if you debuted that year, and red being max). The fully grayed-out years are downright impossibilities (again, not counting Subaru's time as Hello Goodbye, since the cards don't); the softer gray is "very unlikely", the mid blue is "possible", and the deeper blue is "most likely" (thin border) or "sure" (thick border).

I didn't really try to come up with an arrangement that would let any of Ivan, Karina or Pao-Lin debut any earlier than NC1976, because a) both Ivan and Karina have conversations with their bosses in the pilot episode that really make it seem like the just-concluded season was their first, and b) as it is Pao-Lin already became a hero at TWELVE YEARS OLD and that's enough of a headache for me, thank you very much.

The riveting conclusions, assuming this makes any sort of sense at all (and that I didn't put way more thought into this than the people who made the cards did):

Antonio almost certainly debuted in NC1969 or NC 1970, two or three years after Kotetsu;

Ryan (whose experience outside of Stern Bild seems to be fully counted, sorry again, Subaru) doesn't appear in the S1 cards, so it's a little harder to narrow his debut down, but since he's apparently younger than Barnaby, which would make him a teenager for most (if not all) of his possible range of debut years, I'd very personally tend to put him more around NC1973 than anywhere else;

Nathan and Keith most likely debuted in either NC1971 or NC1972... but I would strongly argue that the only really viable year out of these two is NC1972. That is the year Tomoe died, and Nathan and Keith, before episode 1x09, had no idea at all that Kotetsu was ever even married, let alone a widower with a daughter. I simply cannot imagine Nathan, especially, witnessing a colleague she sees pretty much every day go through the loss of his wife, and not prying enough, either with Kotetsu himself or with Antonio (who is not terribly good at keeping Kotetsu's secrets, see ep 1x09 again), to eventually find out what was going on. If Tomoe died before October, when the 1972 season of hero TV started, Nathan and Keith, debuting that year, would have met Kotetsu only after the fact, which seems a lot more plausible.

(Yes, that last thing does support my cute headcanon of FireSky being almost polar-opposite rookies together, but to be fair, the headcanon itself came directly from this math, and not the other way around.)

If you read all of this, we are true siblings in T&B nerdery and ILU forever. Especially if you have any ideas on how to make the data make more sense, lol. 💚

[the-courtsjester]

Greetings Ladys, gentlemen and... things, today I'll be posting my first headcanons but for what you may ask? ...go on ask me... I'll assume you asked

It's for Honkai Star Rail!

Now over time I will indulge in a bit if smut but for more I'll just probably mention characters doing something lewd or shit for one reason or another anyway let's begin!

Honkai Star Rail headcanons 1:

Stelle:

She's a lost puppy god damn, if she gets attached to someone and they wander off from the friend group she will not hesitate to go off with them

Stelle has more then occasionally had to run from law enforcement because she beat someone for bothering her friends too much

She occasionally just doesn't wear a bra and if someone points it out she'd genuinely have to remember what that is

She can and will bring a trashcan into the Astral Exress if no one stops her last time no one stopped her record was twelve in one room

Stelle will spend a good while on figuring out the perfect song to play in the Express for the day... only to just put it back to Take the Journey it's a good song I can't blame her

Stelle has made copys of their wanted posters and put them up in the Express Welt and Dan Heng have learned to not both with them but March can't stop taking the ones of her down only for seven more to appear

Silver Wolf:

As a gamer you'd expect her room to look like a tornado rolled through well you're very wrong! You foolishly foolish fool she's so meticulous in certain games she's had it bleed out into her real life

Wolfie have more then once stolen Blade's crdit card to use on monthly subscriptions ...not like he knows how to use that thing anyway

Sliver Wolf is a brat change my mind doesn't matter the scenario as long as it isn't life threatening if she finds it funny she'll be a brat

While yes she is amazing at multiplayer games she actually prefers single player and party games think, Mario Party, Smash Bros, The Jackbox series stuff like that one time she got Kafka and Blade to join her in Smash Bros and dear lord the look of Confusion on Blade's face

On the daily she will wear something similar to a hazmat suit and take all her limited edition collectibles and clean then meticulously from dusting off boxes to fixing any mistakes it has to make it absolutely perfect

She try's to make a ligament playlist to listen to but it somehow always get infested by video game osts and when asked for good song recommendations she takes a second to not say a video game song unless it's unironically good

Natasha:

Ask her what sleep it she'll take a couple seconds to respond because this woman doesn't sleep yet she tells everyone else to sleep

An entire corner of her room is dedicated to stuffed animals and she'll have a full on ceremony when she plans to gift one of them to one of the kids

She definitely listens to to System Of A Down in the same playlist as Barbie Girl but no one knows ...about Barbie Girl no one except it from her for some reason

Natasha sets up play dates with the kids and herself many times she has played the princess needing rescue and on occasion she'll play the hero or villain if requested to

On accident some of the kids managed to get her grenade launcher and she had a full on panic attack luckily it had no ammo but afterwards she kept it closer by at all times

Natasha in her free time likes to spend it with a cup of coffee and any one of the solitaire versions or any of those old computer games like minesweeper and has become unironically really good at it

Ah well that will do it for now, I'm only doing three for now as they're the three I would say, I know the best but I do feel like Natasha's wasn't as good as it could be I don't know why though, but I may see you all tomorrow with another post

Goodnight my lovely audience!

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (3-5 on penalties)

😎😎😎😎😎

Fuck Arsenal, fuck this referee, and thank fuck we're through.

It wasn't pretty, but Manchester United rode their luck and - thanks in no small part to Altay Bayindir's heroics in goal - we survived to penalties and let the cold mentality take over as we beat Arsenal 5-3 on penalties.

Our Turkish second keeper saved penalties in both open play (Odegaard) and the shootout (Havertz) to secure United's spot in the Fourth Round. This continues the trend of Arsenal being eliminated early under the lego man, Mikel Arteta, but also makes Bayindir the first keeper on record to have saved pens in the main game and the shootout. The stuff of legend.

The game actually started poorly. Both sides were petulant and playing scrappy football, though the weakened Arsenal side did look the much better side of the two for the first 45.

United picked up several bookings, but it was two quickfire yellow cards in the second half from the notorious high IQ of Diogo Dalot that changed the game entirely.

Before that, a rare United attack saw Garnacho, Hojlund and Bruno Fernandes break and the Argentine bypass the Dane to set up the captain for a stunning, powerful finish to give the visitors the lead.

After Dalot's dismissal though, Arsenal quickly found the net with a scrambled effort in the box, and then kept the boot on United's neck as they pushed hard for a winner.

Speaking of necks, Kai Havertz went down like he'd been shot when he glanced into Harry Maguire. Cue drama. Big time scrap, love it.

Mykonos Maguire appeared, with Big H going after the "fucking shithouse" of Havertz and players from both sides squaring off. Several Arsenal fans pointed out how Ugarte - shorter than Havertz - tried to headbutt him (they both butted heads) but somehow they missed this friendly neck grab. Huh. Interesting.

Luckily for us Odegaard hit a meh penalty and Bayindir dived the right way, keeping the score 1-1 and United in the tie.

Extra time came and went, with Zirkzee on for Hojlund (and the better striker of the two with some good holdup play and decisions), Amad on for Garnacho, Yoro on for Maguire, Collyer for Mainoo, and Malacia for Ugarte.

Thus it was penalty time. Bruno, Amad, Yoro, Licha and Zirkzee. All five took excellent penalties, and the BALLS to have three subs step up is huge. Especially young Leny Yoro and especially the underfire Joshua Zirkzee. Mentality monsters. Maybe there is hope for United.

The game was turgid in large parts, but it's hard not to be elated in the aftermath. United rode out the storm and came through on the other side. Arsenal, despite the ref's help and a man advantage, couldn't handle the pressure and faltered. Again.

Shoutout to Amad Diallo, who is thriving under Amorim after ETH by the way. I like the Dutchman but his big mistake was under-utilising this kid.

Arsenal fans will rightly be pissed off with their team, especially with xG like this. They missed big chances, and even aside from big saves from Bayindir and the line clearance from De Ligt, they just weren't good enough. £100m Rice whiffing past the far post under near-zero pressure... you love to see it.

You could tell the game was one of those proper shitshows, because the official United account tweeted the below. When the sanitised accounts are speaking up, you know you fucked up.

Next up in the cup are Leicester City, and a return to Old Trafford for Ruud Van Nistelrooy - whom Ruben Amorim said he's excited to meet having only spoken over the phone.

Next up in the league: Southampton this Thursday, at home, 8pm.

We NEED a good win here. Compound their misery, build some confidence, build some goal difference, and turn two good results versus Liverpool and Arsenal into a run. Coming up we have Brighton, Rangers, Fulham, Steaua București, Palace, Leicester (cup), Spurs, Everton... there's no reason we can't beat all of those teams ahead of us there. I doubt we will, but we could, and imagine how much higher up the table we could be later in February. Hard work, diligent listening to the manager, buy into his plan, profit.

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About Summer Tomoko/Moko

(last updated 9/2/24!)

Summer Tomoko Noge, still known by her codename Moko in the Metaverse, is the summer event variant of Moko. She is explained to stay in her swimsuit even in the Metaverse because the summer event involves a separate pocket of the Metaverse that formed around the beach, and the public's cognition is that people wear swimsuits at the beach.

This post focuses on Summer Tomoko's differences from the original Moko unit. Note that while they share the same pool of weapons, they are otherwise separate units, but cannot be used on the player's active team at the same time.

Summer Tomoko was added to the game alongside the second half of the summer event (Version 2.1.2), and her appearance matches her appearance within that event. In other words, this is the outfit that Tomoko wears to the beach, though she's not a Phantom Thief, so she never actually enters the Metaverse with the team (and, in fact, arrives after most of their work in the Metaverse is said to be resolved).

The event doesn't have a strict timeline, as it seems to be unlocked from essentially the moment it goes live in-game (like other events), but its content indicates it has to take place sometime after Riko Tanemura joins the team, and likely prior to the next Palace. If this is the case, all plot information from the Moko post (up to this point in the plot) can be applied to Summer Tomoko as well.

Tomoko actually comes to the beach to work part-time at one of the shops on the beach, rather than for the school event. She says her swimsuit was picked out by the couple that owns the place, partially to help draw customers. While she brushes it off as being a bit childish, she admits she likes it anyway. Tomoko joins the group in their beach fun whenever she's not working.

Summer Tomoko's voice lines in-game and in-combat tend to be more summer/beach/fun-related than Moko's, though her energy isn't drastically different.

Summer Tomoko uses Summer Prosymna in combat, whose appearance is essentially a recolor of the original Prosymna. Summer Prosymna is categorized as a Psychokinesis type, and resists Psychokinesis while being weak to Curse.

Unlike the original Prosymna, Summer Prosymna is a Rescue Persona, meaning she focuses on healing companions, and her trait triggers a special attack after an enemy gains three levels of "Sparks": all enemies immediately take psychokinesis damage, and have their outgoing damage reduced, while all teammates are healed.

Her first psychokinesis attack skill deals four hits to random enemies, prioritizing those that haven't been hit yet (doing less damage with each subsequent hit to the same enemy) and inflicting a Spark with each hit, then buffs the attack and healing of her trait ability; her heal skill heals one teammate, and buffs their attack and effect hit (also causing that teammate's Persona skills to inflict Sparks on enemies for the next two rounds, up to five times); and her second psychokinesis attack skill hits all enemies, increases the damage they receive, and, for the next two rounds, gives them a Spark any time they take damage from a Persona skill (up to five times). Her passive skills buff her health and psychokinesis damage based on Summer Tomoko's healing ability, and allow her healing skill to buff the target's maximum health for two rounds.

Additionally, it's noted that when an enemy dies, its Sparks are randomly transferred to another enemy on the field.

In combat, her melee weapon is fairy sticks (though she can also use Moko's dual daggers), while her ranged weapon is a bow with firework arrows. Her Highlight is shown from 2:46 - 2:57 in this video, and it deals three psychokinesis hits to random enemies, prioritizing those that haven't been hit yet (does less damage with each subsequent hit to the same enemy), and inflicts a Spark with each hit.

Her recommended card sets are 1) 6 of Cups (Pleasure) + Knight of Cups (Sincerity), 2) 2 of Cups (Love) + Page of Wands (Acceptance).

The game recommends teaming her up with 1) Summer Motoha.

[toyama-division]

Ding Dong Merry Christmas! It appears that Kensaku Morimoto received not only one but two gifts! Opening them up, the first present reveals to be...

...A beautiful bouquet of red carnations.

Opening up the second present reveals to be...

...An espresso machine maker.

That's not all, a card with a note also came with the gifts, the note reads.

'Merry Christmas, my honey!

I hope this gets to you on time, if you're reading this, hopefully Jakurai and I are on our way to you! I'm really excited to spend the holidays with you both! I also hope you like the gifts I got you, I'm sure you already know but red carnations symbolizes deep love and affection, something that I obviously feel a lot for you and Jakurai, hehe and the espresso I got for you because I remembered how much you loved the latte art they did when we visited that cafe! I figured I can teach you and all three of us can curl up with a nice movie and a warm beverage. Ah, I should probably get going, happy holidays, dearest, can't wait to see you!

- Sayaka.' ❤

Merry Christmas! 🎄

A gentle smile spread across Kensaku’s lips. The gifts were sweet and the note even sweeter, the man repeatedly going over the nicknames that Sayaka had written in. It took awhile, but the three were getting comfortable with their relationship dynamics and their lifestyles. More coffee dates, more fishing trips, more time for them to be together.

Setting the box on the counter of his kitchen, Kensaku went about finding a vase and gathering materials to prepare the bouquet. Sugar, lemon juice, and vinegar all mixed into the vase with some water to act as flower food before Kensaku went trimming the stems and placing them inside. Once they were arranged in a way he liked, he set the vase at the end of the kitchen island.

It was cute that Sayaka had apparently tried to time her gift to come just before she and Jakurai were supposed to arrive for their Christmas date. It was hopeful, but Ken sincerely doubted that she could have the talent to do that. After all, the post office isn’t the most reliable and there was just no way Sayaka could have someone deliver this gift just moments before-

Ding dong!

Jerking his head up, Kensaku stared in the direction of his front door like a deer in headlights. Hearing two voices at the doorway, it appeared that it was wrong to doubt Sayaka Miyuki. "How did she do that? She's got to tell me her ways..."

Some way, some how, she managed to actually pull it off and it was weirdly attractive in Kensaku’s brain. Before he could let his mind wander off into anything inappropriate, Kensaku cleaned his hands and began to walk to the door to greet his boyfriend and girlfriend with a chuckle.

“Pea flower! Sweet pea~! Merry Christmas... Oh! Would you look at that.” Pointing up, some mistletoe hung above the entryway, hastily tied with a ribbon to the ceiling light. "Guess you two owe me, haha."

Thank you for the gift. My favorite throuple awawaaawawaawa 

[mask131]

Can I ask this question?

What's the deal with Pére Noel?

Do you any information about him?

I really found very few information about Pere Noel before he was synchronized with Britain's Father Christmas and US' Santa Claus.

Was he just a french version of Father Christmas, focused in adult festivities and merrymaking before becoming a gift-bringer like Santa and St. Nicolas?

Is he today any different from Santa and Father Christmas?

I read that in some parts of France St Nicholas is still the main gift-bringer figure, so I'm confused about the events that led to Pere Noel being a major holiday figure in the French context.

This ask actually needs a very long and complex answer that I will provide below, because the topic of the "Père Noël" is extremely complex...

My guess is that you are referring to the "Père Noël" that appeared in Chris Schweizer's set of "Father Christmas cards" - which appears here if you want the original post, but to clarify I will copy the art below for the sake of the explanation -

This is not the current day "Père Noël". You will NOT see this guy around in the streets today. In modern France, "Père Noël" is the name of the French version of Santa Claus. Or rather, French people call Santa Claus "Père Noël". Current day's Père Noël is just a Santa Claus copypaste. Now, "Père Noël" literaly means "Father Christmas" in French, so one would expect him to be much closer to the British Father Christmas... But yes and no. Yes because it is another incarnation of Father Christmas that predated the American Santa Claus, but no because the French Père Noël has a different (though similar) iconography than the British Father Christmas.

Overall, if you recall my previous post, it is the same thing as with the "proto-Santa Claus/Kris Kringle" of 19th America (mischievious elf-like figure wrapped in brown furs) versus the 20th century American Santa Claus (jolly old man in red and white). "Père Noël" was the figure that was the placeholder of the gift-giver before the arrival of the American Santa Claus in the post WWII world (as with all things American in France, it was imported by the Americans that helped set France free). The earliest records of Père Noël appearing are from the mid-19th century - George Sand writes in her 1855 biography that as a kid she was waiting for "little father Christmas", this "good elder with his white beard", that dropped at midnight from the chimney to place shoes in the "petits souliers" (little slippers" of the kid) ; while an humoristic newspaper of 1848 wrote a dialogue where Père Noël knocks at someone's door - only for the person not to believe them, and saying he should be entering by the chimney not the door. Here, despite the name linking him to the British Father Christmas, he bears the marks of the proto-Santa Claus/Kris Kringle of 19th century America (such as the small size, explaining why he fits through chimneys). But it is all unclear as the figure was definitively not set in stone. In fact, in the second half of the 19th century, there was a certain fleeting between "Père Noël" (Father Christmas), "Bonhomme Noël" (Old Man Christmas/Christmas Man) and "Petit Noël" (Little Christmas, aka a variation of "Little Jésus", a French variant of the German Christkindl).

The thing with France is that it is a cultural crossroad - and this explains the diversity of Noël/Christmas traditions. For example in Provence there is a strong focus on the Epiphany and the Rois Mages (the Three Magi), similar to the traditions of the Reyes Magos in Spain ; while Eastern France truly kept alive the Saint Nicholas tradition typical of Central Europe (Netherlands, Germany, etc). And that's without counting local figures like Tante Arie... Anyway. So yes, saint Nicholas was a very popular gift-giver in France for a long time because France was a deeply Christian country (First Daughter of the Church), and the tradition stayed in the "Germanic" or Dutch-influenced parts of France (North, North-East). But in the rest of the country, Père Noël emerged. A continuation of Saint Nicholas-Sinterklass (still an old man, still with a donkey/horse, carrying gifts in a wicker basket), but with less religious symbols (while he still looks like a monk in some depictions, he never looks like a bishop and never has any overt Christian symbols). There's also the whole Père Fouettard as the French evil counterpart of Père Noël, the same way Saint-Nicholas/Sinterklaas has many "dark companions", but that's another story...

That all being said, the reason Père Noël was so easily "morphed" or "transformed" into the American Santa Claus is because, while he existed as a figure of Christmas folklore in France, he was not actually... defined. There was no specific image of him, no specific attribute, no lasting tradition - he existed as an archetype, as a general image, as a figure everybody knew by name but nobody agreed on how to depict. Sometimes he was closer to Saint Nicholas/Sinterklass by appearing as a thin monk-like old man with his donkey ; other times he was similar to the British Father Christmas by being a larger man dressed in green ; other times yet he was rather similar to the traditional embodiments of winter by appearing as a being wrapped in a grey or white large cloak... You've got some fleshy red-dressed Père Noël with fur-lined clothes similar to the future Santa Claus, just as much as you have skinny brown, blue or purple Père Noëls. There was a father Christmas but more as a general idea. And it is this inconsistency, this "freedom" of depiction that led to the American image of Santa Claus easily becoming the new face of Père Noël.

For example, here are various images of what the pre-Americanization Père Noël looked like:

You will notably notice that many of the visuals used in these Christmas pictures can also be found in England as the Father Christmas there tried out and found various looks - which is why it is sometimes hard to differentiate Victorian Christmas cards from French ones, and shows again how the French Père Noël is basically a cross between Father Christmas and Saint Nicholas.

In conclusion, long story short, Père Noël is not actually truly "French". It is a French figure, but born of the arrival of the British Father Christmas figure into a very Catholic France that fused him slightly with Saint Nicholas, hence a slightly more "religious" look ; and threw in some traditional Father Winter/Old Man Winter imagery to the lot. Overall, when you say "Father Christmas", you also speak of "Père Noël" as they are basically the same figure, with no massive difference, just slight alterations and a different cultural context.

And today Père Noël is just Santa Claus. BUT some elements that were part of the "old" Père Noël legend stuck around even in the modern Americanized incarnation, such as the habit of referring to "petits souliers" (little slippers) as the place he is supposed to leave gifts.

[taekooktimeline]

July 14, 2023 -

Tae supports and hypes Jungkook’s new single “Seven” in his IG stories, and he does it so brilliantly and thoughtfully! His first post showcases his hand holding three playing cards that highlight Jungkook’s nickname / initials “Jk” and the numeric 7 for his new song “Seven.” I don’t play cards, so I don’t have expertise, but fortunately there is Google and other people with more knowledge! I’ve seen people break down the cards as follows:

Jack of spades - considered the most powerful card in the deck, representing physical and mental strength, determination and willpower; indicative you have what it takes to achieve your goals

King of clubs - power, strength; position of influence; natural born leader that isn’t afraid to go after what he likes

Seven of clubs: personal growth; the seven itself stands for victory

All of this fits Jk perfectly. He’s always going to shine brightly and set records. He’s a living legend.

Cute fact - Tae’s playing cards are vintage playing cards from the 1929 silent movie “Frau im Mond" (Woman on the moon). You can find more information here - https://twitter.com/taejkforever/status/1679810073328078848?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

And as others have noted, it appears the person in the back may be Jungkook, since the shorts seem to match what he wore to Yoongi’s concert (but decide as you like)-

CTTO for the collage

No surprise, Dispatch covers Tae’s post -

https://www.dispatch.co.kr/2257376

I want to note his second post, which is the below fan art from _baba_jk -

The drawing is inspired from BTS’ 2020 Grammys performance with Lil Nas X -

The reason I want to note this is because the artist has drawn cute Taekook fanart before-

And in February 2020, Tae commented on their Taekook fanart on Weverse -

Some say he posted the second photo due to the bridge in “Seven,” and that it’s another way he’s showing support. I’m inclined to believe it’s more because he’s noticed the artist’s work before but I’m receptive to plausible theories, and since I’ve seen this theory floating around, I’ll add the bridge lyrics here and you can decide.

Jungkook’s MV for Seven - https://youtu.be/QU9c0053UAU